As representatives of one of the California cities hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, we applaud state Attorney General Kamala Harris for using the considerable powers of her office to protect homeowners from fraud and abuse in the mortgage market.

Attorney General Harris announced a much-needed "Homeowner Bill of Rights," a set of laws designed to stop deceptive practices by banks and help families keep their homes. This comes just weeks after Harris' shrewd negotiating tactics won California the lion's share of a $26 billion multistate settlement with big banks over foreclosure abuses.

We agree with Harris that the settlement is only a first step toward holding these powerful financial institutions accountable for a widespread campaign of lawlessness.

We in Oakland have seen too many families' belongings piled on the sidewalk, too many vacant properties turned into drug houses or worse, and too many responsible tenants in foreclosed homes left without running water or electricity for weeks or months on end. This crisis has affected our entire community as property values have plummeted and resources for police, schools and other basic services have been undermined.

There have been attempts to absolve the banks of responsibility for predatory and deceptive lending by arguing that some people bought homes they could not afford during a period of cheap, too-good-to-be-true credit. But the hundreds of families who came to city foreclosure workshops in recent years, and the hundreds more who have called our offices for help, were not victims of bad decision-making. In our experience, it appears that the majority of the almost 11,000 foreclosures in Oakland between 2007 and 2011 were the result of predatory behavior by loan agents, deceptive or outright fraudulent behavior by banks, or some other type of corporate malfeasance.

In 2001, widespread predatory lending practices in Oakland's working-class neighborhoods led the Oakland City Council to pass a landmark ordinance designed to protect low-income and elderly residents from predatory loans. Unfortunately, in 2005, the state Supreme Court agreed with a banking industry lawsuit and struck down Oakland's ordinance, paving the way for lenders to target our community with aggressive and deceptive marketing.

Attorney General Harris, a native daughter of Oakland, showed real understanding of the damage caused by the lenders by holding out for a better deal during settlement talks. Ultimately, she negotiated a deal that guarantees $12 billion in debt reduction for Californians whose homes are underwater and will provide about $2,000 each for families whose homes were taken - often without any legal due process.

On Harris' insistence, the settlement also preserves California's right to go after the banks in civil court for criminal or fraudulent acts. Harris has already begun a joint investigation with Nevada's attorney general into criminal and civil foreclosure abuses by the banks. We strongly support an aggressive and comprehensive investigation and prosecution of the corporations and individuals who are responsible for these abuses.

We also agree with the attorney general's call for a temporary moratorium on foreclosure sales by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Harris has already sued the two government-owned mortgage companies - which own about 60 percent of California's mortgages - for refusing to answer questions in the state's investigation.

It's telling that days after this settlement was announced, an audit of 400 foreclosures in San Francisco showed that almost all contained clear violations of the law or at least questionable documentation by the lenders.

We commend Attorney General Harris for shining a spotlight on these issues, and for the momentum she has given California to ensure these companies face real consequences for fleecing so many families and destabilizing our entire economy.

Foreclosures compared

Percent of foreclosures among mortgage loans made between 2004 and 2008: